theflashfandomcom-20200215-history
The Flash (Wally West)
Character History Wally West was born to Rudy and Mary West in Blue Valley, Nebraska. As a boy, Wally would often daydream, most notably about being the Flash. He idolized the Flash, was the president and sole member of the Blue Valley Flash Fan Club. His parents thought he was setting himself up for failure and did their best to dampen what they believed to be unrealistic expectations, in rather harsh ways. His father encouraged him to work at the same plant he did, but Wally grew frustrated and hurt (eventually apathetic) by their lack of faith in his abilities. At a family reunion held at the Wests, Wally accidentally spilled some soda while pouring, and was yelled at by his father for keeping his head in the clouds. He went to his room crying and a familiar looking man, who he thought was maybe his uncle or something, came in and talked to him, saying he shouldn't give up on his dreams and giving him confidence that he'd reflect back on for years to come. Kid Flash One summer, when he was ten years old, Wally went to Central City to stay with his aunt, Iris, who he called his best friend. Iris was going out with police scientist Barry Allen, who was "friends" with the Flash. Barry "introduced" Wally to his idol, the Flash. In the back room of Barry's apartment was a lab, where Wally asked the Flash all sorts of questions. When he asked Flash how he got his powers, the speedster set up his cabinet of chemicals just as it had been when he was created. Wally wished that something like that could happen to him, the Flash dismissed it as a billion-to-one chance. Just then, however, lightning did strike the cabinet, bathing Wally in the same chemicals that created the Flash. Flash told Wally to keep this a secret, and even from Aunt Iris. He gave Wally a smaller Flash costume, and Wally became Kid Flash. The Flash taught Wally everything he knew about how to use speed to his advantage, and about the rogues gallery. The next day, Wally apprehended his first criminal after conquering a crippling fear of fire, Mr. Element. Element had attacked the Art Museum, transmuting many pieces of art into shapeless forms. Element stole the Giardi Atom, an atomic model crafted from gold and jewels. Kid Flash followed Element to the home of Ward Wellington Weaver, owner of another Giardi Atom, where he defeated the villain and turned him into the police. While in high school, Wally was a member of the Eta Pi fraternity, along with his good friend, Tommy Elkin. The next summer, Barry told Wally his secret identity, which surprised Wally, who had always thought Barry was kind of boring. Again, lightning struck, causing a matter-transforming machine to transform Wally's costume into a newer, predominantly yellow, costume, the design of which Barry had been toying with in the back of his mind. He also joined the Teen Titans. He began to take classes at Taggert University, with hopes of eventually getting a doctorate in physics. As Barry's sidekick, Wally met Hal Jordan, then Green Lantern of Earth, and became Jordan's friend just as Jordan had been Barry's friend. Because Wally had been struck by lightning when he was ten, rather than a full grown man, it affected his body differently than it had Barry's. Although he was able to run through the crippling pain he called "hitting the wall" the summer after he got his powers, when adolescence hit, it came back with a vengeance, to the point that Wally was forced to quit superheroing. The New Flash During Crisis on Infinite Earths, when Barry Allen was killed, an anti-matter ray hit Wally full force. While it knocked his speed down to that of sound, it also removed the malady that caused him intense pain. Wally took Barry's uniform and declared himself the Flash, just until Barry returned. However, the rest of the population did not share Wally's feeling that Barry was still alive, and they did not appreciate Wally's attempts. After being publicly embarrassed in a fight with Dr. Alchemy, Green Lantern declared that he would protect Central City. For about a week, Wally donned his Kid Flash costume again. However, during the next fight with Dr. Alchemy, he finally realized that Barry was not coming back. He saved Green Lantern and Jay Garrick from Dr. Alchemy. Finally, he was accepted as the Flash. After accepting that Barry was dead, Wally still had to overcome his anger of feeling abandoned, and forced into a role he did not feel ready for. Coupled with the emotional pain of what had happened with Raven, anger somehow overcame all the values that Barry had taught him, and he was rather rude and childish for a while. All these mental blocks also slowed him down, sometimes to the point where he lost his speed entirely. He also manifested the need to consume large quantities of food after using his powers, another product of his psychological condition. Wally won six and a half million dollars in the lottery. He was able to leave his small apartment in Brooklyn and buy a mansion on Long Island. He asked Frances Kane to live with him, and she accepted, for a short while. After two weeks, she left, saying they were moving too fast. Soon afterward Wally invited nutritionist Tina McGee to live with him, even though she was eleven years his senior and not quite divorced. Wally's mother, Mary, also came to live with him, causing much tension between the two women. After Tina left so that she could go back to her husband, Wally lost all of his money in the stock market, and had to move to an apartment. Here, he befriended his neighbor, Mason Trollbridge. He also began seeing Connie Noleski again, a Texan model who he had actually been living with for a short time before Tina. After the alien invasion of Earth, during which Wally fought Durlans in Cuba, the aliens set off a gene bomb that robbed Wally of his superspeed. His friends, Jerry and Tina McGee, set up a device to restore his speed. It sprayed him with the chemicals that had gifted Barry and himself with superspeed while sending an electrical charge through him. However, with his new speed, Wally burned a deep trench across America, stretching from New York all the way to New Mexico. His aura, which had previously served as an energy collector, began to feed directly on him, starving him and affecting his brain, and his consciousness to another energy level. He grew long spines around his body, and stalked around Swainsville, New Mexico, confused and looking for food, contributing to the citizens' belief in a local myth, the Porcupine Man. Chunk was able to restore his essence to this dimension by using his singularity powers. Fortunately, Mason Trollbridge was able to pluck the spines out of his body. Keystone City After several attempts at Wally's life, he decided to move to Keystone City, which had been recommended by Jay Garrick's wife, Joan. Mason decided to join him so they could share rent. In Keystone, he started to date Linda Park, a reporter he had met initially during the Porcupine Man incident. When Barry Allen seemingly returned from the dead, Wally didn't know what to think. Jay and Hal Jordan had both embraced his return, but Wally remained skeptical, mostly because he hadn't mentioned Iris, who had died at the hands of Professor Zoom, at all. However, when Wally saw this Barry visit Iris's grave, his heart was won. Barry was back, or so he thought. Barry began to behave irrationally, as if he, and only he, was the true Flash. When they were both stuck in a Combine trap, Barry left Wally to die, then told the rest of the world that Wally hadn't been up to being the Flash, and had passed away trying. In fact, Wally had escaped, but watching Barry speak so badly of him, decided to give up on the Flash identity, telling only Linda that he was still alive. In an aimless wandering through the streets, he came upon a tattered old book in the alleyway where Barry had materialized. It contained the truth. This Barry was fake, his true identity was Eobard Thawne, better known as Professor Zoom. With the help of the older speedsters, Jay, Johnny Quick, and Max Mercury, Wally brought Zoom down. In this fight, his speed returned to its old glory. He was every bit as fast as Zoom because he had finally come to terms with his fear that he would be replacing Barry. In an elaborate scheme laid out by Abra Kadabra, Wally was sued for negligence by Allison Armitage, a store employee who was maimed in his fight with Razer. Although all the evidence in court favored him, Wally himself was furious at his actions. He felt that he, being the fastest man alive, should be everyone at once. During the trial, he went on a non-stop, one-man life-saving spree, trying to make up for what he had done. After the trial was over, he went to Johnny Quick to ask for his speed formula, hoping that adding their speeds would make him unstoppable, able to save everyone. However, the formula only froze him in time. Max Mercury, who was able to join him for a while at that speed, taught him an important lesson. He cannot be everywhere at once. No matter what, he can't save everyone. Establishing His Own Legacy Aunt Iris returned from the future, where she had actually gone, instead of actually being dead. She wasn't alone, either, she brought along Bart Allen, a young man with amazing speed, who turned out to be her and Barry Allen's grandson. His power was accelerating him to the point that he'd die of old age before reaching his 4th birthday, and she needed Wally's help. He was already in the body of a 14 year old despite only being alive two years (although he had the mental capacity of a young teen). Wally managed to stabilize his speed, but the two did not mesh very well at all, Wally claiming it was because they were too alike. Bart took up the speedster gig, but laughed at the idea of going by Kid Flash, instead dubbing himself Impulse. When Hal Jordan seemingly went mad after the destruction of his former home, Coast City, and became Parallax, he was replaced as Green Lantern by Kyle Rayner, who took his place in the Justice League of America just as Wally had taken Barry's place. The relationship between the new Green Lantern and the third Flash got off to a rocky start - Wally had grown up with Jordan as the Green Lantern, and having fond memories of him, to the point that he thought of him as "Uncle Hal", did not warmly embrace Rayner and questioned whether or not he was worthy of replacing Jordan, and was perhaps more critical of Rayner than any other hero was in Rayner's early days. The two eventually overcame their differences and became friends, like their predecessors. Wally brushed with the Speed Force while unsuccessfully trying to save the 64th Century from Zero Hour. He was sent back through time, where he invisibly watched on the important points in his life as they happened. Wally became solid at the West Family Reunion, and turned out to be the "uncle" that gave his past self that pep talk. He soon returned to his proper time, but not until he had seen one more vision, a vision of Linda's apparent fate at the hands of Kobra, as well as his own death. Afraid for Linda, he tried to take out Kobra as soon as possible, hoping that he could stop the tragedy that he had seen before it happened. He hid all of this information from her as long as he could, and kept holding back his speed, hoping to not brush against the future again. In a fit of rage when Bart, ruined his plans against Kobra, Wally raced home, and began to turn into a being of pure energy. It subsided, but it happened again shortly thereafter, and moreso. Giving it one last ditch effort, and realizing he would very likely not make it out alive, he asked Jesse Quick to take over the mantle of Flash for him, should he pass. This turned out to be nothing but a ploy to make Bart jealous, in hopes that he would get more serious about his legacy. This pissed Bart and Jesse off pretty well. Wally thought he had averted the disaster he had foreseen when he saved Linda from Kobra's laser, but did not expect it to play out again. He had to go faster than light to save her, the consequence being that he entered the Speed Force. He traded her fate for what he thought would be his. However, he managed to returned from the Speed Force, despite what Max had said about it being impossible. Linda was still on Earth, and that kept him from leaving her forever. Upon his return, he quickly defeated Kobra and destroyed his geothermal tap, ruining Project Morpheus. This trip beyond the light gave Wally the power to tap directly into the Speed Force, manifesting in him new powers. He accelerated the speed of Jesse Quick's injury, healing her leg almost instantly, was able to vibrate through objects like he did as a kid, only now they were microwaved afterwards, and was able to give speed to other objects as well as take it away. Previously, Wally had been able to find his way home by using Linda as a beacon to his proper time, but in his last jump, Wally was not able to make it home right away because Linda's love had been distracted by the attention of John Fox, the Flash of the 27th century, who told Linda Wally was dead, and she was doing her best to move on. Finally, he did return, only to find that Linda had been frozen in an attempted Ice Age by Polaris and Abra Kadabra. Wally used the Speed Force to speed up her molecules and thaw her out. Wally, during a brush with the Black Flash who had apparently claimed the life of Linda, saved her from the Speed Force. He proposed to her and they were married shortly thereafter, but then she disappeared off the face of the earth, and no one, even Wally, remembered her. Linda gave birth to twins, Iris and Jai. Retirement and Return During the recent crisis, Wally, with the help of Kid Flash, Barry, Max, and, and Johnny, were able to temporarily subdue Superboy-Prime by sending him to the Speed Force. He and the other speedsters, along with Linda and the twins, were sent to an alternate Earth, home of another Jay Garrick operating as the Flash. They decided to absorb the Speed Force into Bart and send him home to battle Superboy-Prime. Content with passing the Flash mantle on to Bart, Wally and Linda decided to raise their children on the alien world Savoth, where the residents were longtime friends of the Flashes. However, shortly after their arrival, the twins began to age very rapidly. The Savothians, who were advanced scholars of velocibiology, at first did not agree to help the Wests, but finally relented and agreed to train Linda to deal with the children's rapid aging. Wally, along with Linda and their children, was brought back to Earth by seven members of the Legion of Super-Heroes using lightning rod devices. He was then invited to join the newly reformed Justice League of America. Wally and Linda moved back to Keystone City. Since they were afraid the twins could, at any time, age rapidly, possibly even to old age and death, they decided to let Iris and Jai, who had developed their own superspeed-related abilities, live their lives to the fullest by helping their father fight crime. Not long after, Wally found himself once again pulling a double-shift for two separate teams. He reunited with his old allies the Titans in order to face the pressing threat of Trigon. Powers and Abilities Speed Force Conduit: Speed Force is a vaguely defined extra-dimensional energy force from which most superspeed-powered heroes draw their powers. The Speed Force serves as the ultimate measure of velocity in the DCU. They are often referred to in terms of barriers: Sound barrier, Light barrier, Time Barrier, Dimensional Barrier, and finally the Speed Force Barrier. While all speedsters are powered by the force, West mainlines the power from the force itself and cannot be cut off from the source, unlike the others. Wally is the fastest of all the Flashes, he is arguably the fastest being that has ever existed. He is currently fast enough to easily break all the barriers and even skirt the edge of the Speed Force. Wally has, on several occasions, sped faster than light and been pulled into and exited the Speed Force by his own volition. Batman considers Flash to be one of the most formidable meta-humans on the planet. :Constructs: Wally discovered if he concentrated, the Speed Force could be used to create solid constructs which he used to compose his costume. The first time he used this ability was to create a solid armor enabling him to run despite having broken legs. Later examples included sealing up the openings of his costume against disease, creating pockets for holding things, etc. His costume itself is a construct molded from the Speed Force. At times he'll create walls of pressurized debris to surround an area. :Sharing the Force: "Lending" velocity to objects or people already in motion. Since his interaction with the Speed Force, he may also lend his speed and angular momentum to another object or person. This may allow others to run alongside with the Flash. He may still allow his molecular structure to pass through object but now after he passes through an object, the object is now supercharged with a chaotic energy, and explodes seconds after his passing through it. His range of powers seems to have been increased significantly and he is now the fastest Flash to have ever lived. If he shares the Speed Force with another meta with super-speed capabilities such as Superman, that metahuman can now exceed the speed of light but does not become aware of the Speed Dimension. He can also impart molecular energy to a target to increase molecular movement, as he did against the water being called Flow, boiling him into steam. :Steal Speed: He is able to "steal" speed and/or momentum from anyone, effectively turning them into living statues. Also can steal speed from bullets and other fast moving objects thrown at him or at others. :Speed Force Aura: The Flash's body is surrounded by what he calls his "speed force aura". This aura protects him and anyone who is running with him or carried by him, from the effects of using his speed. This includes friction and airborne particulate matter. It may also protect him from injury from high speed impacts such as punches he delivers and receives from his opponents. With this aura he is able to absorb kinetic energy. He does seem to possess some level of superhuman resistance to injury but this does not extend far past normal physical interactions, as received from normal combat. His children can sync their auras with Wally's, giving him the ability to pull either of them to him with a thought.''Flash'' (Volume 2) #234 :Superhuman Endurance :Superhuman Speed: It appears that the Flash may run at any speed that he thinks is possible. Theoretically, speeds greater than Mach 10, are dangerous to the people and to the environment. This speed would still be the equivalent to approximately 128 miles per second; allowing him to cross the United States in about 23 seconds, or circle the world in about 3 minutes. The Flash rarely achieves such speed in populated areas due to the effects of sonic disruptions and air displacements. His cruising speeds are probably around 90-150 miles per hour (1.5 - 2.5 miles per second). This is fast enough to move through most cities and around people without causing too much disruption to the population and slow enough for him to register everything he sees clearly. He can also run across bodies of water and up the sides of buildings. :*''Infinite Mass Punch:'' Traveling near the speed of light acquired the relativistic mass of such speed to impart blows which could hit with the force of "a white dwarf star", Flash's own durability regulated by the Speed Force in such cases. Realistic effects take over as a body approaches light-speed. Visual input will begin to blueshift and his body's mass will increase towards infinity. With this discovery, he was able to knock out a Superman-level martian from Mount Rushmore to the plains of Africa, all with one punch. :*''Time & Dimensional Travel:'' West has shown to be able to traverse time and dimensions with his own powers, like Allen. However, Wally now accelerates to the point that he is skirting the very edge of the Speed Force dimension. He can traverse along the time-stream to specific points as they become visible, much like watching a movie in fast forward or reverse. In order to enter the Speed Force and time travel to different periods, he must reach light speed, which he can easily and instantly do (He no longer requires a run to reach light and greater speeds). :*''Regeneration: Accelerating his healing factor while using the Force to sustain him, he could heal from any injury instantly, without prematurely aging like his alternate version, Walter West. :*Phasing:'' The Flash has always possessed the ability to control his speed and angular momentum at the MOLECULAR level, and control his molecular interactions to allow his body to pass through any substance. If he chooses Wally can excite the molecules of whatever substance he vibrates through to critical mass causing it to explode. While in an intangible state, Flash is immune to any airborn viruses and can breathe regularly. He can also vibrate so fast that light does not reflect off him, rendering him invisible :*''Limited Flight:'' By spinning like a helicopter, he can even perform a limited kind of flight. Since his power is a quantum/molecular phenomenon, it is possible for the Flash to be able to fly just as other metas do, (and there have been other flying speedsters in the past, such as the deceased Johnny Quick,) because he can control his absolute molecular energy and direction and force it in the direction he wished to move without running. Though he rarely makes use of this ability. :*''Increased Perceptions:'' The Flash possesses the ability to alter his perceptions so that falling objects can appear to be standing still and can be caught and moved back to their normal position. He can do this so quickly as to have it happen invisibly to the normal human eye. He can strike a single opponent hundreds of times in a second or multiple opponents two or three times in a second. He can disarm or jam any number of opponents weapons before they are even aware of his movement and can hurl small projectiles at hypersonic velocities. :*''Supercharged Brain Activity:'' The Flash's mental abilities are also increased in speed, simple computations can be done at lightning speeds, and his ability to perform normal feats at increased speeds has allowed him to build hundreds of force field generators in a matter of hours, move sandbags to cover a beach or search an entire area for something as small as a paper clip. Wally can also read at super-speed, but rarely takes advantage of this ability to learn at increased speeds, although, Jay Garrick has done so and has become a jack of all trades in several disciplines and languages. :*''Vortex Creations:'' By running in a circle at a certain speed, Flash is able to create a vortex with a variety of affects. One effect is pulling the air away from the center in order to suffocate an enemy. Another effect is levitating whoever and whatever was in the center. Also, able to send anyone or anything into another dimension when running around them. Some other effects are acting as barriers to movement or funnels for toxic gas's. The Flash also can spin his arms to create directed funnels of hurricane speed air that can knock down barriers or reduce the speed of a falling object. When putting out forest fires, what flash does when he runs around the perimeter is create a pocket tornado. The updraft lowers the temperature inside the funnel and raises the fire off the ground which takes away it's fuel source. In Other Media There will be a Flash movie coming out soon it is currently set for a release year of 2010. 3-writers have currently wrote two different script screenplay's for the movie Batman Begins, Batman Gotham Knight, and The Dark Knight writer and producer David S. Goyer wrote the 1st version of the movies script screenplay and the 2nd version and currently the current script screenplay was written by the writing team of Chris Brancato and Craig Wright. The director of the movie will be David Dobkin who is best known and famous for the movie Wedding Crashers and the producers of the film will be Alex Gartner and Batman Begins and The Dark Knight producer Charles Roven. *Actor Michael Rosenbaum played Wally West in the animated TV Show Justice League Unlimited. Notes *The Fastest of all the Flashes. Links *http://en.dcdatabaseproject.com/Wallace_West_%28New_Earth%29 West, Wally